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May 19, 2020
Growing Up In Bandera
By Glenn Clark
The Bandera Prophet
I hate to be the one to burst your bubble but let me set the record straight on a few things. No, we didn't drive around in cars and trucks with horns mounted on the hood back in the day. Horns were located under the hood as I recall.
While it's fun to experience the days of old in the Cowboy Capital of the World let me assure you I have never seen a board sidewalk along any street in Bandera. We had some ghost towns and frontier towns associated with dude ranches where that existed but not in town. I have seen photographs of Bandera way before my time and not one wooden sidewalk was visible. I think they may have been another one of those Hollywood inventions.
Seems to be a lot of that Hollywood inspired stuff around these days. Remember the twelve shot six shooters from the old western movies? Thankfully the gunfighters we have in Bandera these days keep everything authentic. From their clothes to their guns they use replicas which are period correct.
You would have to go way back in time to find students riding horses to school every day. There was a time but during my high school years it only happened on a special event dubbed Western Day. Not having a horse myself I relied on the shoe leather express. Luckily I lived close to the school. It was uphill both ways but only three blocks.
Looking back I now realize how many people I knew as a youngster who were real living examples of the old west slowly changing into our modern world. Knowing how I feel now in my later years I think I have a pretty good idea what kind of thoughts they had watching from their rocking chair as the world changed. Thankful that life had gotten a bit easier over the years and at the same time feeling sadness at the loss of a way of life.
I'll keep on Growing Up In Bandera watching the changes taking place and wondering what the future holds for the youngest members of my family. Running through my mind all that has happened around here during my seventy plus years I am wondering what people mean when they say they don't want Bandera to change. Let me clue you in. Back in the day Bandera resembled very little of what you see today.
#230 2020
While it's fun to experience the days of old in the Cowboy Capital of the World let me assure you I have never seen a board sidewalk along any street in Bandera. We had some ghost towns and frontier towns associated with dude ranches where that existed but not in town. I have seen photographs of Bandera way before my time and not one wooden sidewalk was visible. I think they may have been another one of those Hollywood inventions.
Seems to be a lot of that Hollywood inspired stuff around these days. Remember the twelve shot six shooters from the old western movies? Thankfully the gunfighters we have in Bandera these days keep everything authentic. From their clothes to their guns they use replicas which are period correct.
You would have to go way back in time to find students riding horses to school every day. There was a time but during my high school years it only happened on a special event dubbed Western Day. Not having a horse myself I relied on the shoe leather express. Luckily I lived close to the school. It was uphill both ways but only three blocks.
Looking back I now realize how many people I knew as a youngster who were real living examples of the old west slowly changing into our modern world. Knowing how I feel now in my later years I think I have a pretty good idea what kind of thoughts they had watching from their rocking chair as the world changed. Thankful that life had gotten a bit easier over the years and at the same time feeling sadness at the loss of a way of life.
I'll keep on Growing Up In Bandera watching the changes taking place and wondering what the future holds for the youngest members of my family. Running through my mind all that has happened around here during my seventy plus years I am wondering what people mean when they say they don't want Bandera to change. Let me clue you in. Back in the day Bandera resembled very little of what you see today.
#230 2020